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UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Doctor Ross

"COUNTRY
CLOWN" - B.M.I. - 2:28

Composer: - Isiah Ross

Publisher: - Burton Limited

Matrix number: - F 1012

Recorded: - November 29, 1951

Memphis Recording Service

706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee

Released: - March 1952

First appearance: - Chess Records (S) 78rpm Chess 1504-A mono

COUNTRY CLOWN / DOCTOR ROSS BOOGIE

Reissued: - 1996 Charly Records (CD) 500/200rpm CDSUNBOX 7-1-17 mono

SUN RECORDS - THE BLUES YEARS 1950 - 1958

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)

Isiah Ross – Vocal, Harmonica & Footstomping

Wiley Gatlin - Guitar

Just as ''Doctor Ross
Boogie'' was based on Pinetop Smith's ''Pinetop Boogie Woogie'', so ''Country Clown'' was more of a country clown. In all but title, it was Li'l Son Jackson's ''Bad Whiskey, bad Women'', released on Gold Star three years earlier. That doesn't mean there isn't
much to love. The long harmonica intro on an earlier version had been trimmed in the interest of sales, but the urgency remains. Phillips noted Ross's guitarist as 'Wilie Gallatin' but no one of that name appears to have been living around that time, and Ross
later confirmed that he was really Wiley (or Wylie) Gatlin. Ross, Gatlin and Robert Moore aka Mook had played together for some years on Arkansas radio stations either side of Ross' stints in the Army and they'd found themselves a slot on WDIA, where A.C.
Mooha Williams dubbed Ross the Medical Director of the Royal Amalgamated Association of Chitlin' Eaters of America. (CE)(MH)

Doctor Ross

"DOCTOR
ROSS BOOGIE" - B.M.I. - 2:37

Composer: - Isiah Ross

Publisher: - Burton
Limited

Matrix number: - F 1013

Recorded: - November 29, 1951

Memphis Recording Service

706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee

Released: - March 1952

First appearance: - Chess Records (S) 78rpm Chess 1504-B mono

DOCTOR ROSS BOOGIE / COUNTRY CLOWN

Reissued: - 1996 Charly Records (CD) 500/200rpm CDSUNBOX 7-1-18 mono

SUN RECORDS - THE BLUES YEARS 1950 - 1958

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)

Isiah Ross – Vocal, Harmonica & Footstomping

Wiley Gatlin - Guitar

Courtesy of Sam Phillips'
developing relationship with Chess Records in Chicago, the good Doctor and his small band were able to treat the wider public to the hypnotic one-chord style that cured all ills. Ross was just out of the Army and came into the Memphis Recording Service as
a singer and harp player accompaniment by his Jump and Jive Boys; guitarist Wiley Gatlin and Robert Moore aka Mook who used a broom to make a percussive sound. Ross would soon develop the ability to play rhythm guitar, harmonica, and drums simultaneously,
but he and his boys already had the formula down pat. It ain't Gershwin or Charlie Parker but it sure is hard to resist. Can you imagine how Sam must have felt the first time he listened to this music coming through the speakers in his tiny studio? Probably
much the same as when Joe Hill Louis began to play, because in some respects they were quite similar. One possibility is that Sam Phillips feared he might lose Louis to Modern in the fall-out from ''Rocket 88'', and saw the Doctor as a replacement. This is
fact happened; Modern recorded a session or two with Louis away from Phillips' studio before dropping him. Ross bases this song on Pinetop Smith's 1928 classic ''Pinetop's Boogie Woogie'', the record that jumpstarted the boogie, but his approach goes
back to the African dance music that underpinned the blues as we know it. (CE)(HD)(MH)

Billy Red Love

"DROP TOP" – B.M.I. - 2:41

Composer: - Milton Morse Love

Publisher:
- Burton Limited

Matrix number: - F 1014

Recorded: - Possibly October/November
1951

Memphis Recording Service

706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee

Released: - April 1, 1952

First appearance: - Chess Records (S) 78rpm Chess 1508-A mono

DROP TOP / YOU'RE GONNA CRY

Reissued: - 1996 Charly Records (CD) 500/200rpm CDSUNBOX 7-1-20
mono

SUN RECORDS - THE BLUES YEARS 1950 - 1958

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)

Billy Love - Vocal and Piano

Charles Walker - Saxophone

Calvin Newborn - Guitar

Phineas Newborn Sr – Drums

''Rocket 88''
spawned many sequels, a fair number of them emanating from Phillips' studio (''My Real Gone Rocket'', ''T-Model Boogie'', ''Mr. Highway Man'', ''Hydramatic Woman'', etc.). This time it's the turn of Billy Love to follow in the slipstream of ''Rocket 88'',
and using his own name too. He's cruising around town in his fantasy convertible. Musically, it's a simple 8 to the bar boogie driven by Love's rock solid left hand and hugely confident vocal. Once again, his debt to plummy-voiced Roy Brown is clear. The automobile
becomes a metaphor for nookie by the halfway point. As a songwriter, singer, and pianist, Billy Love was a triple threat. (HD)(CE)

Billy Red Love

"YOU'RE GONNA CRY" – B.M.I. - 2:27

Composer:
- Milton Morse Love

Publisher: - Burton Limited

Matrix number: - F 1015

Recorded: - Possibly October/November 1951

Memphis Recording Service

706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee

Released: - April 1, 1952

First
appearance: - Chess Records (S) 78rpm Chess 1508-B mono

YOU'RE GONNA CRY / DROP TOP

Reissued: - 1996 Charly Records (CD) 500/200rpm CDSUNBOX 7-1-21 mono

SUN
RECORDS - THE BLUES YEARS 1950 - 1958

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)

Billy Love - Vocal and Piano

Charles Walker - Saxophone

Calvin Newborn
- Guitar

Phineas Newborn Sr – Drums

This a mid-paced blues about the perils of getting too high and mighty was the song backed ''Drop Top'' on Chess. There is a throaty sax solo, probably from Charles Walker, and good understated
support from Calvin and Phineas Newborn, Sr, on guitar and drums. Phillips paid Love an advance of $70 on the disc on November 2, 1951 and loaned him $15 on December 11 when he noted that ''Chess has masters on ''Ain't No More'', ''You're Gonna Cry'' and ''Drop
Top''. However the disc was not issued immediately and some months later on March 16, 1952 Phillips noted that he had sent another master of ''Drop Top'' to Chess. The disc was finally issued in April, but appears to have been given little promotional support
and did not show up significantly on regional sales charts. (MH)

Again, Wolf is worried about preparing for his old
age, and by all accounts it truly weighed upon his mind, perhaps because he was relatively old when he began recording. Johnny Temple's ''Getting Old Blues'' doesn't fret like this, and neither does any other blues song that comes to mind. Just as Sleepy John
Estes extolled the virtues of the burial policy, Wolf almost seems intent on selling you a retirement account. Nevertheless, this track becomes a timing nightmare pretty quickly and despite Wolf's distinctive and spectacular voice, it could have used another
couple of takes. (CE)(HD)

Like
all the genuine greats whom Sam Phillips recorded, Howlin' Wolf arrived at 706 Union with a style which he neither cared to alter, not could possibly have improved. He plays and sings with such bite and attack on this track he sounds like he could
have saved the South at Gettysburg! Sure, its something of a "Rocket 88" spinoff, but it has an added sparkle and vitality which owes nothing to any other record. Louis Calvin Hubert's piano is rock solid, whilst Willie Johnson's guitar fairly bristles with energy - and although Wolf pops his "p's" into the mike, that merely adds to the abandon of the recording. The original working title of the song was "Cadillac Daddy",
which was arguably stronger.

So
Howlin' Wolf played the blues at Chess Records while Chuck Berry played rock and roll, but this rocks harder and with more abandon than just about anything else on Chess.. or Sun, come to that. (MH)

Originally titled "Pony Blues", on the Chess 78, the full title is "Saddly My Pony

(Gonna Find My Baby Out In The World Somewhere)". This was Howlin's
early Chess sides, had been popularised two decades earlier by Charlie Patton, whom Wolf knew from his days living in Ruleville. ''It was Patton who started me off playing'', Wolf remembered. ''He took a liking to me, and I asked him would he learn me, and
at night, after I'd get off work, I'd go and hang around''. Wolf's deep, rasping vocal style instantly recalls the older man's, just as his howl, actually a jump from natural to falsetto voice, is modelled on a Mississippi contemporary of Patton, Tommy Johnson.

For some reason the June session for Love, featured an entirely different band featuring Jimmy Johnson and Harvey Simmons on saxes, Arthur Martin on drums and Lee Patterson on trumpet. The June session here
produced two instrumentals, neither of which have survived, and a song lodged as ''Poor Poor Man'' but issued correctly as ''Poor Man''. If ''Teddy Bear'' was great tun, in contrast ''Poor Man'' was a seriously slow blues, sung from the heart.
Billy lists how every penny he gets goes to pay some kind of bill, and how he can't understand why he works hard but for nothing. His pleading vocal is underscored by an excellent, sax solo from Harvey Simmons. (MH)

Billy Red Love

''MY TEDDY BEAR BABY'' - B.M.I. - 2:59

Composer: - Milton Morse Love

Publisher:
- Burton Limited

Matrix number: - 1033

Recorded: - May 28, 1952

Memphis Recording Service

706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee

Released: - August 1952

First appearance: - Chess Records (S) 78rpm Chess 1516-B mono

MY TEDDY BEAR BABY / POOR MAN

Reissued: - 2011 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 17149 mono

GEE... I WISH

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)

Billy Love – Vocal & Piano

John
Murry Daley – Drums

Richard Sanders – Baritone Saxophone

Willie
Wikes – Tenor Saxophone

One version of this session was
pulled out for release and retitled ''My Teddy Bear Baby''; the other versions have not survived. ''My Teddy Bear Baby'' shimmies up to us in similar style to the cute girl Billy describes in his song. This is a clever lyric about a woman who "takes
Billy's appetite", the prettiest woman he's ever seen in his life. This is all very endearing until we realize the significance of the descriptions he uses. Her pretty, smooth, skin is just like an elephant's hide, her walk wobbles all over the street
on oversized feet, and her cute face is like a bald teddy bear! There is a jazzy sax solo from Willie Wilkes and in all this is a very appealing track. (MH)

The song that was chosen for release along with "Decorate" was "Juanita", an impassioned ballad complete with mock crying and wailing, a style that found favour in the early 1950s and was exemplified in
hits like Tommy Brown's "Weepin' And Cryin" on Dot Records which was the number one rhythm and blues hit of December 1951. If anyone was going to be able to carry off this histrionic style, then Rufus Thomas - the entertainer - was probably
the man. No doubt his performance of "Juanita" went down a storm in live performance, but this is a very slow song and although Richard Sanders contributes a moving baritone sax solo, the performance drags a little on record. It was left to
Chuck Willis - with a different song - to take "Juanita" into the top ten and rhythm and blues history four years later.

When Rufus Thomas recorded "Juanita" for Sun Records, Sam Phillips didn't believe in its commercial possibilities. As a result, it had been sold to Chess Records in Chicago, who released it a few months
later. It failed to make the charts. "Sam Phillips sold me the damned song to get even with me", Leonard Chess recalled. Some have said that Elvis Presley sang "Juanita", on tour in 1955 and may have recorded it while at Sun Records. Possible
dates: February 6, 1955, November 13, 1954; or something in December 1954. Why Elvis Presley selected the song for his act is a mystery. Rumour has it that Elvis Presley watched Thomas perform "Juanita" in local clubs in Memphis. Combined with that,
it probably was simply due to his penchant to experiment with rhythm and blues songs, couplet with the fact that he had just visited with Rufus Thomas in Memphis. Source Rufus Thomas. (MH)

When Rufus Thomas come into the studio on April 21, he would have been able to hear two versions of this song on a tape by Rosco Gordon. They contained a number of vocal asides and had a generally anarchic sound, faithfully
reproduced by Rufus. If anyone was going to be able to carry off the required histrionics on this sloppy-drunk song, then Rufus Thomas - the consummate entertainer - was probably the man. There is little wonder that the difference between the two men's recordings
was small because with Rufus were Willie Wilkes, Richard Sanders and John Murry Daley - the same players Rosco used. Rufus calls ''What you say Richard'' as Sanders is about to take his solo, as had Rosco. Only Rosco himself is missing, replaced by Billy Love
on piano. Rufus's vocals are slightly more prominen and assured than Rosc's even though it is not his own song. According to the session logs, Rufusrecorded four other songs at the ''Decorate'' session. One of these was the intriguing ''Beale Street Bound'',
a recording that has not apparently survived. (MH)

Howlin's Wolf last known appearance in Sam Phillips' studio. Phillips' log book noted that Wolf was to return and cut some more
titles to fulfil his obligation, but there is no indication that he ever did. The tape box was marked "Wolf With Big Band" and the session featured an often ragged horn section.

This uptempo cut, was derived from a pre-War song by The Harlem Hamfats but Wolf may have recorded it in deference to local pianist
and fellow Chess artist, Billy "Red" Love (Also known as Drop Top Red) who might be playing piano on the session. (MH)

On
this time, Little Walter (Jacobs) cracked the rhythm and blues charts with '''Juke'' and was firmly entrenched at number 1. It would, of course, have been absurd to have two Little Walters in the same field of music, never mind on the same label, and it was
clear which horse the Chess brothers intended to back. Around the same time, October 1952, Phillips send dubs of Raymond Hill and Willie Nix to Chess, and both were refused. The relationship that had started so promisingly with ''Rocket 88'' eighteen months
earlier was ending. The Chess brothers had plans to get Howlin' Wolf to Chicago, and were happy to see the back of Phillips' other artists. Horton didn't get another shot at leading a Chess session until 1964, but he was in Chess's Chicago studio as early
as January 9, 1953, first with Gus Jenkins and then as Little Walter's replacement with Muddy Waters. (MH)

Walter Horton

"WEST WINDS ARE BLOWING" - B.M.I. - 3:07

Composer: - Walter Horton

Publisher:
- Burton Limited

Matrix number: - 1042 - Take 1 - Instrumental

Recorded:
- September 15, 1952

Memphis Recording Service

706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee

Released: - Chess 1529 was cancelled before release.

First appearance: - Chess Records
(S) 78rpm Chess 1529-B mono

WEST WINDS ARE BLOWING / LITTLE WALTER'S BOOGIE

Reissued: - 1996 Charly
Records (CD) 500/200rpm CDSUNBOX 7-3-14 mono

SUN RECORDS - THE BLUES YEARS 1950 - 1958

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)

Walter Horton - Vocal and Harmonica

Jack Kelly - Piano

Joe Hill Louis - Guitar

Willie Nix - Drums

An alternate take of the track originally
earmarked for the other side of Chess 1529 (i.e. "West Winds Are Blowing") - and perhaps the title of this side gives a clue as to why Chess pulled the plug on this release, as they were having huge success with Little Walter Jacobs at the time.
Mind you, they could easily have retitled this powerful instrumental (what would have been wrong with "Big Walter's Boogie"?) - but it seems that this coincided with their decision not to take any further product from Sam Phillips anyway. Instead
they began to concentrate more on in-house productions, and Horton didn't get another chance with Chess Records until 1964.

Why Chess shelved this and its projected flip is baffling, as musically it is extremely powerful, the combination of harp and lead guitar from Joe Hill Louis during the break being particularly
effective. The instruments blend together perfectly, and the musicians play with an empathy which is notoriously difficult to capture in a studio setting.

Chess scheduled a presently unidentified take of each of the above for issue on Chess 1529, but it was never released. (MH)

In mid-December, Chess sought to follow up on the success of "Rocket 88" by bringing Jackie Brenston to Chicago to record
his own session. Much was obviously expected, as the singer and baritone saxophonist laid down no fewer than 8 sides. But just four were released, and the sales of Chess 1496 and 1532 must not have been up to expectations.
Chess 1496 has shown up in quite a few collections; 1532, which would be Brenston's last release on Chess, is less often seen. The full band personnel for the session is not known, but two Memphis stalwarts were on hand: Phineas
Newborn Jr. at the piano and his brother Calvin Newborn on guitar. Calvin is also credited as the composer on "Starvation'', a solid jazz instrumental. The band was rounded out with an alto sax, a tenor sax, bass, drums, and guest
singer Edna McRaney, who appeared on ''Eighty Eight Boogie" and "Lovin' Time Blues" as well as "Hi, Ho Baby".

Note: The session may have been recorded for Chess in Chicago but Brenston was under personal contract to Sam Phillips and Phillips notebook shows at least from the session(s)
at December 15, as having been recorded by him at the Memphis Recording Service.

Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats

''STARVATION BLUES'' – B.M.I. - 2:13

Composer: - Calvin Newborn

Publisher: - Burton Limited

Matrix number: - U 7412

Recorded:
- December 15, 1951

Memphis Recording Service

706 Union Avenue, Memphis,
Tennessee

Released: - December 1952

First appearance: - Chess Records
(S) 78rpm Chess 1532-B mono

STARVATION BLUES / BLUES GOT ME AGAIN

Reissued:
- October 22, 2007 Rev-Ola Bandstand MP3-10 mono digital

THE MISTREATER

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)

Jackie Brenston – Vocal - Saxophone

Edna McRaney - Vocal*

Phineas Newborn Jr. - Piano

Calvin Newborn - Guitar

Unknown Musicians

Note: The session may have been recorded for Chess in Chicago but Brenston was under personal contract to Sam Phillips and Phillips notebook shows at least from
the session(s) at December 15, as having been recorded by him at the Memphis Recording Service.

So what led discographers to think that this might be one of Sam Phillips' recordings? A couple of reasons: the leader of the Four Cruisers, Joe Dobbins, was based in Memphis throughout
most of his long career, and Phillips was supplying masters to Chess around this time. Against that, you could argue that Dobbins's single sounds nothing like a Memphis Recording Service session and Phillips had fallen out with Chess several months before
it was recorded. Recently, some researchers have suggested that Howlin' Wolf's post-Phillips Memphis session was held at Lester Bihari's Memphis studio. Bihari, of course, ran Meteor Records, but it seems unlikely that Leonard Chess would record there because
he'd stolen Bihari's charter act, Elmore James. Dobbins' session was roughly contemporaneous with Wolf's last Memphis session, though, so it's at least possible that Leonard Chess A&R'd them both at a studio other than Phillips.

Over the course of a long and fairly detailed oral history, Dobbins didn't go into
much depth about this single. ''I wrote my first number in 1943 or 1943'', he told Harry Godwin in 1967. ''I wrote ''Beale Street Shuffle'' and ''On Account Of You''. They didn't do so good because I didn't know how to arrange at that particular time, and
I quit playing again for about eight or nine years''. Dobbins probably meant 1952 0r 1953, and gave no clue as to the identity of the three unidentified Cruisers or where he recorded the session. So we're left with a pleasant, if innocuous, instrumental that's
of interest only because it appeared on Chess and might have been Sam Phillips' last recording for that label. (CE)

As Joe Dobbins (Nor Dobbin as the label stated) comes to the fore, it again becomes clear that this doesn't sound like one of Phillips' recordings if for no other reason than
the vocal is poorly recorded. By 1953, Phillips had achieved a very bright, urgent, and ballsy vocal sound. It would be wrong to say that Phillips didn't record this type of music, though. Within weeks of Dobbins' session, wherever it was held, Philips recorded
Big Memphis Mar Rainey, who played much the same places in much the same style. And although Chess has become indelibly associated with Chicago blues it's easy to forget that the Chess brothers began their music career in the nightclub business and always
recorded what can best be described as suppperclub entertainment. Although not as studiedly cool as Charles Brown, this was still supperclub blues. Thus we're left with more questions than answers about a record that deserves few of either. (CE)